Letters
by ilovesara801
Summary: The one thing Ty Lee was allowed to do whilst imprisoned in the Boiling Rock was the one thing that she should definitely not have been allowed to do: write letters.
1. Arrival

**_Letters  
_**An Avatar: the Last Airbender Fanfiction  
Jenn Supp 2010©

**INTRO**

_The one thing Ty Lee **was** allowed to do whilst imprisoned in the Boiling Rock was the one thing that she should definitely not have been allowed to do: write letters._

**CHAPTER ONE**

The first day she was in the cell she sat unmoving in the corner, crying as she came to terms with what she had done. The second day, she let herself drink, if only to replenish the water she had been losing through her eyes.

She ate on the third day. More correctly, she was told that if she didn't eat, then the cook wouldn't bother giving her food anymore. (She wondered if it was proper to call the person who made such horrible food a cook, but she said nothing.)

Once she had regained her strength and composure later that day, she returned to her acrobatics routines to give herself something familiar to focus on. The next day, she began talking—or at least asking questions. What was she allowed to do? What wasn't she allowed to do? Had there been any word left for her? What time was it? Eventually, after a full two hours of Ty Lee's harmless, though seemingly relentless questions, she was assigned a new guard who refused to even look into her cell. She eventually fell asleep.

On the fifth day she awoke to a bang, and she flew up from her mat on the ground to find a large book lying on the floor of her cell. The door shut then, and she looked up, but didn't see who it was. She walked over to the book and carried it back to her mat. Sitting down cross-legged, she put it in her lap before reading the title.

"Rules, Regulations and Allowances: Boiling Rock Prison. Under new management by the order of the Crown Princess of the Fire Nation." She read softly out loud.

_Azula fired Mai's uncle. Of course._ Ty Lee though to herself. It was something she should have figured on. The Princess couldn't have such a good warden as Mai's uncle being tempted to give Mai and herself preferential treatment. It could potentially ruin him, and it would undermine Azula's authority. _She probably had him transferred to the other side of the nation._ She almost laughed thinking about the face he probably made when told about the transfer…almost.

She leaned back against the wall, propped the book on her knees, and started to read. As a prisoner born in the Fire Nation, she had special privileges not given to prisoners born in the other nations. Since she was not a firebender, she was allowed one candle a week, but since her imprisonment was direct from the Royal Family, she was not allowed to share a room. After the introduction part, there was a list of infractions and their respective punishments. Ty Lee skipped those pages, which she guessed numbered at least thirty-five.

She also took the liberty of skipping past the part about who was in the prison, and the not-so-edible food. She stopped when she came to the second to last page, a list of additional freedoms. Many of them did not apply to her, since she was neither over seventeen, nor a bender, nor a boy, but there were a few allowances that particularly interested her. She could request her 'accessories' back: her shoes, hair ribbons, and jewelry.

The last freedom printed made her gasp out loud — as a prisoner born in the Fire Nation who had never committed an infraction in the prison, she was allowed to post up to six letters per week, although they could only be mailed within the Fire Nation and its colonies. She smiled as she pushed the book carelessly off of her lap and cartwheeled over to the door.

"I'd like to request a candle, my accessories, and to write a letter, please." She asked hopefully through the door.

"Request acknowledged." A gruff male voice replied to her almost immediately.

"Okay. Thanks!" She chirped, grinning, and went back to practicing with just a bit more enthusiasm than before.


	2. Requests

**CHAPTER 2**

Around the time that the sun started to fall her door swung open, and the still happy acrobat gracefully dropped out of a two-finger handstand position and turned around to face the door. A tall, well-muscled man stood in the doorway. Under different circumstances, and if he were a bit younger, Ty Lee might have liked him. He was dressed in elaborate Fire Nation robes. She automatically bent her head, bringing one flat palm up to meet the other hand, now a fist, saluting him out of habit. One guard flanked each side of him and one stood directly behind him; the one behind him had his arms full.

"I am the warden of this prison, Yi Kuro. Now, you have requested these items?" He took one step to the side, fully revealing the guard behind him to Ty Lee. In one hand he held a tall fat candle, a set of matches, a few sheets of paper and a medium size bottle of ink that had a quill sticking out of the cork in the top. In the other hand he held a cloth bag, which she assumed had her 'accessories' in it. She nodded in the affirmative.

"You will address me as…" He stopped when she made to speak.

"Yes sir, sorry sir. Those are the items I requested, thank you for asking." She instantly dropped back into her old mannerisms from her years at the Academy; she lowered the tone in her voice to perfect compliance, tilted her head down, and kept her eyes no higher than at his collar and no lower than his chest.

"Very well." He seemed surprised; she noted the rise in the pitch of his voice. Apparently he did not yet know who she was. He probably hadn't gone through the master list of prisoners and their cell numbers yet. It _was_ quite big. She fought the urge to laugh at the fact that he thought she was just any common prisoner, and here she was addressing him like a proper Academy girl. He continued, "You are to only write letters to addresses within the Fire Nation and its colonies. Any attempts to write to parties located not in the Fire Nation or its colonies, with the exception of people in the armies in the Earth Kingdom, will not be tolerated, understand?"

"Yes Sir."

"Furthermore," He continued, "Since you have chosen to request items, _any _future transgression or misbehaviors will result in the items being retracted and twice the punishment; do you understand?"

"I understand, Sir. Thank you for asking." She replied.

"Very well, then." He turned and left the cell, with the left- and right-hand guards. The one with the items set them down in the middle of the floor, and then backed out of the room, double-timing to catch up with the others. Her regular guard shut the heavy metal door, locking her in once again.

Ty Lee bent over and pushed the writing stuffs, then picked up the candle, matches and bag, bringing them over to her mat. She lit the candle with a match, putting the used match in the corner, and setting the candle atop the rule book on the floor by the foot of her mat, also where she sat.

She pulled the bag onto her lap, and began removing things one at a time. The first thing to come out was one of her wrist cuffs. She slipped the soft pink fabric onto her left wrist. After that came two pink silk hair ribbons and a small ivory hair comb; Ty Lee did her hair into her customary braid before pulling out another wrist cuff, which she slipped onto her right wrist.

She reached into the bag for her shoes and felt a sharp pain, in her hand, and slowly withdrew her hand from the bag. Her palm had a long, shallow cut across it. Ty Lee frowned in confusion. She carefully pulled each shoe out, and just barely saw the edge of one of Mai's throwing knives inside of it. It should not have been there, by any means. She glanced at the door warily before quickly slipping the blade in between the pages of the rulebook. She wiped the blood off on the thin red blanket.

Ty Lee then went back to the bag to pull out the last item. She smiled sadly as her nimble fingers found its cool surface. It was a delicate blackened silver chain-link necklace with a brilliant one inch replica of Azula's royal three point flame in gold. On the back her old nickname, Ty, was elegantly burned into the metal in the Princess' flawless script. Though she usually kept it hidden beneath her high collar, it was her prized possession, her 13th birthday present from Azula. The chain that complemented it perfectly and allowed it to stand out so well was courtesy of Mai. She fastened the familiar piece around her slender neck. She felt like herself again.

She took the writing stuffs and rolled over onto her stomach, using the smooth concrete floor as a makeshift desk to write her letters on. She took a deep breath before writing a deep apology letter to Azula. The acrobat then wrote a long babbling letter to her grandmamma. When she was finished, she tucked the letter to Azula inside the letter to her grandmamma, adding a note at the bottom of her letter, asking if she could send it to the Fire Princess. She picked up the candle and dribbled a blob of wax on the seam of the letter and pressed her pendant into it, then writing her grandmamma's address and title in the top right corner. Slightly smiling at her improvisation of her normal seal, she moved to the door.

"Request to post a letter?" the hopeful acrobat asked through the thick iron door.

"Put the letter at the door and move to the back wall, face it, and put your hands on it." The voice replied mechanically.

"Yes Sir." She set the papers down on the ground and moved as he asked. The masked face of one of the guards looked through the window, checking that she did as she was told before he opened the door, stepped in and took the letter, and then shut the door behind him.

"Request acknowledged."

Ty Lee blew out the candle and lay down, watching the stars through her small window as she drifted off to sleep.

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Thanks to everyone who is reading, and a special thanks to pres1111, who reviewed my 1st chapter:)  
Keep 'em coming. They fuel me.**


	3. Azula's Interference

**CHAPTER 3**

The sixth day came and passed with nothing at all happening. That was the day Ty Lee realized just how boring jail was. She posted a letter her old friends at the circus before taking a nap.

"Prisoner will rise!" The annoyed voice of the warden echoed through her cell on the seventh morning, waking her instantly. She brought her hand up to her eyes and groggily rubbed the sleep from her eyes before staggering sleepily to her feet. The acrobat glanced out of the window, seeing that it was still dark. Confused, she frowned.

"Prisoner will gather her belongings!" The voice echoed again, and Ty Lee slipped her feet into her shoes, and then piled all of the writing stuffs into her cloth bag, setting that on top of the rule book. She picked it all up, and held them protectively against her chest. The door swung open and the warden stepped in, flanked with one guard on each side of him.

"Walk." He ordered her. She moved forward and each guard fell into step beside her, the warden following behind.

'I have been ordered by my superior to have you transferred to a smaller cell. Since you have displayed no retaliatory behaviors, you will not be given fifty lashes, the normal complimentary punishment to being downsized." He paused, "Understand?"

"Yes sir, thank you sir." Ty Lee mechanically muttered as the guards led her to a stairwell, ordering her to go up three flights. They led her up, and she watched the courtyard grow smaller beneath her as she climbed higher and higher. Maybe her new room would have a window that overlooked the courtyard. She hoped so.

They ordered her into a cell that was barely as wide as she was tall, and it was maybe seven feet long. The ceiling came to about two feet above her head. She set her things down as the heavy metal door grinded shut behind her. She glanced at the small window. No bars. _They probably figure no one could fit. _She put a hand on each side of her hips, her widest point, and held that measurement up to the window. She would fit, easy. Ty Lee dismissed the option; she wanted to keep her belongings. Out of curiosity, she poked her heads out of the window, looking at the outside structure of the building. She could scale it, easy. She dismissed that option as well. No use in driving the guards crazy. She noticed that there were more guards around the tram than usual.

She turned back around to face the door. Her eyes widened and she moved towards the door. There, directly beneath the tiny barred window in the door, there was a line of Azula's unmistakable elegant script. She bent closer, whispering the words to herself.

"Quit while you're behind." She frowned. _Azula definitely got my letter…_ Her brows came closer together a she realized that the Princess had to have been in the room recently. Ty Lee reached up to touch the metal; it was warm. She let out a squeak of frustration. She had to find Mai.


	4. Mai

**CHAPTER 4**

Ty Lee woke up a few hours later when the sun rose, and decided that for the first time she would venture out of her cell and into the courtyard for recess and try to find Mai. When the doors opened to release prisoners at noon, Ty Lee silently stood and followed the flow of the prisoners out into the hallway, down the stairs, and eventually out into the courtyard.

She blinked in the harsh sunlight, standing still long enough to let her sensitive eyes adjust after being indoors for so long. Once she could see again, she began scanning the yard, looking for Mai's long raven hair, which she presumed would be loose, the way hers had been. She aimlessly wandered around the courtyard for about twenty minutes, looking for her friend, and just when she was beginning to get disheartened she spotted a head of hair that looked like Mai's a few hundred feet away. The acrobat broke into a breakneck speed run, dodging people if there was sufficient room, and pushing them out of the way if there wasn't. She darted in front of the girl, grinning when she saw it was Mai. The overjoyed acrobat flung herself into the surprised assassin, wrapping her arms around the girl and smiling.

"Ty Lee?" Mai questioned, confusion marring her typically steady voice. The acrobat loosened her embrace and took a step back so they could see each other.

"Hi, Mai." She smiled before realizing the girls hair was indeed hanging loose down her back. Ty Lee reached up and untied the bottom ribbon in her hair, leaving it in a simple ponytail. She held the pink silk ribbon out to Mai.

"I know it's not exactly your color choice," Ty Lee giggled, "But do you want it?" Mai gave a little nod, and the acrobat slid behind her, wrapping her hair up into a spiraling bun on the back of her head, then went back around to her front.

"Thanks." Right then a warning bell sounded, warning prisoners that they had ten minutes to be back in their cells

"Mai…can you come back to my cell with me?" The other girl slightly raised an eyebrow, so Ty Lee gave a little more explanation.

"I need to show you something." Mai's face relaxed a little and she gave a slight nod, following the acrobat when she turned to go back into the building and up the many flights of stairs to her room.

"Help me move the door?" Ty Lee asked a confused looking assassin, who just looked at her for a moment before seemingly deciding that there could be no harm in shutting the door; the two girls dragged the heavy door most of the way shut, leaving it open enough for them to squeeze back out. Mai turned to lean up against the wall, and when seeing the pile of things Ty Lee had managed to accumulate during her short time at the prison asked in a Mai-version of excitement,  
"How…how did you get all of this?" She was staring at everything.

"We're Fire Nation. We get to request things like this. Just tell them you'd like to request your accessories, candles, and to write a letter." Ty Lee explained, wandering over to look out of the window. She sighed, turning back towards the assassin again.

"I want you to read my door."

"You want me to read your…door?" The brunette nodded, waiting as the other girl moved closer to the door and gracefully knelt down to read the words.

"This is Azula's writing." Mai flatly stated, standing and turning to face Ty Lee, "Did she come to visit?" Mai put just enough emphasis on the simple sentence to make her point clear.

"No, nothing like…that, but when they moved me in here, it was still warm." She explained, slightly saddened that her friend seemed to think that the Princess could escalate to that level with her.

"They moved you. Why?" Mai asked.

"Azula wasn't happy." Ty Lee leaned against the far wall. "She already left, I think. All of the extra guards are gone now."

"I was wondering what that was about." The bell rang in the courtyard, signaling to all of the prisoners that recess was over. A voice echoed up from the ground, telling everyone to return to their cells.

"I'll walk you back?" Ty Lee left just enough of a questioning her voice so that Mai could tell her to stay if she wanted, but Mai nodded alright. Ty Lee pushed herself up off of the wall and the two girls squeezed through the opening in the door. The assassin turned towards the stairs, and the acrobat followed.

The pair walked in silence, each memorizing how to get to the others cell. When Mai stopped in front of an open cell, Ty Lee glanced up at the number burned deep into the metal above the door, 5291. She quickly committed the digits to memory. Looking down from the door, she caught a split second view of the normally unexpressive teen slightly frowning.

"What's wrong?" she was well aware of the fact that it was a pretty dumb question considering the circumstances, but her friend favored the concerned girl with the sort of answer she knew she wanted.

"I thought she'd separated us," Mai paused, a faraway look in her eyes before speaking again. "I need you to promise me something." Ty Lee nodded that she would, and the other girl continued, "If you ever leave…if she comes…if something happens, lave your ribbon somewhere I'll find it. Somewhere they won't. be creative."

"But…I don't un…" The bell rang then for prisoners and instantly two guards began to move towards them.

"You don't have to understand, but will you promise me?" Mai spoke faster as the guards got closer. Each of the guards grabbed on of the acrobat's arms from behind, and Mai took a step back into her cell, but not deep enough that she couldn't see her friend.

"I…I promise!" The girl stuttered, surprised as the guards pulled her up.

"Where is your cell, prisoner?" The female guard questioned her in a harsh tone.

"S-sixty-four-oh-nine!" Ty Lee forced out. The guards turned her around and half led, half dragged her back to her cell, where they roughly pushed her in. Not ten seconds after she entered the cell, the doors shut behind her, and she leaned over and positioned herself in a basic headstand/ All considered, it had been a pretty god day, but the acrobat was still a little worried about what Mai had said. Ty Lee gave a slight frown. _Worrying isn't good for your aura, Ty._ She chided herself, bringing her feet down in front of her.

Yes, it had been a pretty good day after all.

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**End of the year exams are beginning for me soon, so I will probably only get a moment to update about once every 10 days after this, but I do fully plan on continuing this story, so don't be worried. Thanks to all reading, especially to those who are reviewing. Wanna pry me from studying? Review; it'll get my attention.**

**Best,  
--Jenn**


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